Someone Else Came to Spy

After Kidō class ended, the students went to the cafeteria together.

Misao and his little group had just collected their food and sat down.

Rukia turned to Renji Abarai beside her and said with a crooked smile:

"You didn't manage to use a single Kidō spell before class ended, and you can still sit here and eat without a care? Idiot."

"I'm just a little rough when it comes to controlling my Spiritual Power. Once I'm done eating, I'll go get some extra practice."

Without another word, Renji Abarai grabbed a meatball and stuffed it into his mouth.

The moment it hit his tongue, he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. A tear even ran from the corner of his eye.

"Coming to the academy was the best thing I ever did."

Rukia sighed as well. "It really was. How could we ever have eaten food this delicious and full of Spiritual Power back in Rukongai?"

After a couple of bites, Tokoyo Misao immediately noticed that today's meal was completely different from the past few days'.

He said, "There's at least three times as much Reishi. The Reishi in this food is much denser than I expected.

Looks like they prepared different ingredients for us because of our classes.

If the food has this much Reishi in it every day from now on, it'd be hard to explain if our Rei'i didn't improve at all."

"Hahaha, speaking of improving Rei'i, I can already feel myself getting close to the fourteenth grade.

Dead Last, your Reishi Manipulation is amazing, but you're still at the nineteenth grade, aren't you?"

Renji Abarai had finally found something he was better at than Misao, and he spoke with a laugh.

But before he could finish speaking, his eyes widened.

At that very moment, the Rei'i bursting from Misao was noticeably stronger than before.

He said in disbelief, "Y-you improved?"

Misao picked up a meatball and tossed it into his mouth. "I'd never eaten anything before, so after eating all this food packed with Reishi at school lately, isn't it normal for me to break through?"

"Huh? You'd never eaten anything before?" Momo Hinamori's eyes widened in surprise.

Izuru Kira thought for a moment, then picked up his own meatball, placed it on Misao's plate, and said:

"Misao, you must have been in one of the far-out districts of Rukongai before, right?"

Misao didn't refuse. He first stuffed the meatball into his mouth and ate it.

He had to admit, the food at school tasted pretty good.

He nodded. "It was a very, very distant place. There was nothing there, not even grass to eat or water to drink. I spent several years there."

Actually, to be precise, he had no idea how much time had passed or how long he had spent in that dark space.

In complete darkness, there was simply no way to keep track of time.

Perhaps he had only spent two or three days there, or perhaps it had been more than a decade.

It wasn't until he had completely absorbed the old man's power that he awakened the Eyes of Eternal Eyes.

Only then did he find a node in that space and break through it to reach Soul Society.

"I never knew you had it so hard before," Rukia murmured after hearing him. She stared at the meatball on her plate, gritting her teeth.

She reached out with a trembling hand, picked up the meatball with her chopsticks, and slowly moved it toward Misao.

But no matter what she did, she couldn't straighten her wrist, and her lips trembled up and down.

Crunch.

Misao snatched the meatball straight from her chopsticks, tossed it into his mouth, and chewed:

"What? Don't you like meatballs, or are you on a diet?"

"Ah! You jerk!" Rukia yelled, turning away and furiously devouring the food on her plate.

Momo Hinamori spoke up. "You can have my meatball too. If you hadn't helped explain things in class today, Misao, there's no way so many people in our class could have successfully used Kidō."

She had originally wanted to say that all nine students in their class had managed to use Kidō, putting them far ahead of the other students in their year.

But Renji Abarai was still sitting at the table, unable to use it, so she changed what she was going to say.

Renji Abarai wolfed down the rest of his food in a few bites and immediately stood up. "I'm going back to practice."

He had just taken a step when Misao's voice came from behind him:

"Red-haired baboon, your problem isn't that your control isn't fine enough, or that you aren't trying hard enough. You're just a little too impatient.

When you practice, try to sort out the incantation one line at a time."

"Got it!" Renji Abarai called back, then ran off to the training ground alone.

Rukia watched him leave and sighed. "He's always been so impulsive."

Momo Hinamori hurriedly asked, "Rukia, you and Renji have known each other for a long time, haven't you?"

There was an unreadable look in her eyes as she continued, "You two seem really close."

"Yeah, I met Renji in Rukongai. We used to go stealing together all the time."

Rukia folded her arms across her chest. As she recalled the past, the corners of her mouth curled up.

"Really?" Momo Hinamori's eyes sparkled. "Then are you and he in that kind of relationship?"

Rukia tilted her head. "What kind of relationship?"

Momo Hinamori leaned close to her ear and whispered, "The kind where you get married someday."

Rukia shot her a sidelong glance. "What nonsense are you talking about? Renji and I are just playmates."

Momo Hinamori studied Rukia's expression. When she saw that she wasn't lying, she let out a long, somewhat disappointed sigh. "Oh..."

She then sat back at the table, propped her elbows on it, and rested her chin in her hands as she gazed at the ceiling.

"What do you think of Captain Aizen?"

The abrupt question left Rukia unsure what she meant, and she answered, "Captain Aizen is great."

Izuru Kira spoke up beside her. "It's not easy to aim to be like Captain Aizen."

As he looked at Momo Hinamori, a barely perceptible trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes.

Tokoyo Misao chewed his food and silently watched the three of them interact across the table. He had to admit, it was quite a show.

Thinking back on today, Sōsuke Aizen had replaced Teacher Ōunabara Gengorō to teach the new students Kidō. Misao didn't know what he was trying to do.

Eternal Eyes could only see the flow of Reishi. It couldn't read people's thoughts or facial expressions, much less detect where they were looking, so who exactly was Aizen paying attention to?

Based on his memories, several of the new students in this year's class were all targets of Aizen's special attention.

First and foremost was naturally Momo Hinamori, who would become the lieutenant of the Fifth Division.

Izuru Kira, sitting beside her, would also become lieutenant of the Third Division.

Renji Abarai would likewise become lieutenant of the Sixth Division.

Come to think of it, Rukia would actually have a comparatively low position in the Gotei 13 later on.

But on closer thought, that was a little strange. Judging by the current situation, Rukia's eleventh-grade Rei'i gave her an overwhelming advantage.

After the little test in less than a month, she would most likely be able to enter the special training class.

Even if all of them entered together, they would have the same starting point and receive the same education.

And given Rukia's starting point, unless something happened after graduation, there was no way she couldn't become a lieutenant.

Was it because he went to the Thirteenth Division?

Misao thought some more. During today's Kidō training, Aizen, an exceptionally skilled teacher, had demonstrated Kidō in person.

That had allowed Misao to observe it with Eternal Eyes and gain a very clear, direct understanding of Kidō's basic principles.

If Teacher Ōu had come instead, it definitely wouldn't have had the same effect.

He could only hope Captain Aizen would have time to continue teaching them over the next few days.

He was very eager to continue learning this kind of practical knowledge.

"All right, I'm done eating too. I'm planning to go back to the training ground. What about you?" Rukia's voice interrupted Misao's thoughts.

Misao turned his head and saw Rukia looking at him. He pursed his lips and replied:

"I'm going for a stroll by the river. A walk after a meal keeps you going till ninety-nine."

"But Misao, we're going to be Soul Reapers. We can live for thousands of years. What do you mean, ninety-nine? Are you looking to die?"

Misao paused. "That's true. Living to a hundred does sound like a curse to a Soul Reaper."

Though he didn't know why Rukia had reacted so strongly, he added unhurriedly:

"Training all day long is boring. I've already mastered Kidō."

"Oh, really?" Rukia folded her arms, the corners of her mouth lifting in a mischievous smile.

"When I came over earlier, I heard some upperclassmen talking about Kidō.

I didn't hear everything, but they said you can abandon the incantation and fire Kidō off directly."

"What? You can abandon the incantation when using Kidō? That can't be right, can it?

Isn't the incantation used to change the properties of Reishi and activate the Reishi pathway?

How can you do that after abandoning the incantation?" Momo Hinamori cried in surprise.

Izuru Kira backed Rukia up. "Rukia's right. You really can use Kidō without an incantation."

He actually had family members who had become Soul Reapers and had seen it with his own eyes.

"Then how do you do it?" Momo Hinamori was even more surprised.

Rukia stared straight at Misao with a smug expression. "You can't do it, can you?"

Misao stood up and walked toward the training ground without answering.

The three hurried after him.

When they reached the training ground, they saw Renji Abarai shout, "Hadō #1: Shō!"

A shockwave burst from his fingertip. It covered a wide area, but dissipated on its own after traveling only a dozen or so meters.

"It's still too unruly." Misao picked a target at random and stopped about thirty meters in front of it. Then he pointed a finger and spoke.

"Hadō #1: Shō!"

A bullet of compressed air immediately shot from his fingertip and struck the target thirty meters away with a smack.

"Incantation Abandonment!" Rukia's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly shouted, "Teach me! Teach me!"

She had long guessed that Misao's understanding of Kidō was thorough and that he must know many advanced applications, which was why she had deliberately provoked him at the cafeteria. She hadn't expected him to actually pull out something this good.

Izuru Kira marveled beside her. "Even upperclassmen and graduates might not necessarily be able to master Incantation Abandonment. I never expected you to be able to use it straight away, Misao. That's incredible."

"Misao, how did you do it?" Momo Hinamori also asked loudly.

Renji Abarai had just managed to use half a Hadō #1: Shō and was about to puff out his chest in pride.

But at that moment, Misao's display of Incantation Abandonment made him hunch over instead. He bit his lip and said nothing.

Misao spread all five fingers. "Hadō #1: Shō!"

Puff, puff, puff, puff—

Five rhythmic impacts sounded from the target.

He turned to Rukia, whose mouth was hanging open:

"Incantation Abandonment is very simple. You already understand the principles behind using Hadō.

So as long as you engrave its pathway, the way it's condensed, and the way it changes the properties of Reishi into your muscle memory, you can naturally use it directly without an incantation.

Normally, though, this method is fast, but it makes the attack slightly weaker.

That's how it works. Good luck."

Out of the corner of his eye, Misao spotted a Spirit Ribbon that shouldn't have been at the training ground. He waved and left.

Rukia and the others immediately found a target and began practicing Hadō #1: Shō.